State Gives UML Business Center Key Boost

An artist's rendering of UMass Lowell's $35 million Pulichino Tong Business Building, which will house the Robert J. Manning School of Business.

Lowell Sun

10/03/2012

By Katie Lannan

BOSTON -- The state's $607 million investment in the University of Massachusetts system will help bring a new, $35 million business-school building to UMass Lowell, Gov. Deval Patrick announced Tuesday.

Patrick committed $25 million in bond funding to the project at the Lowell campus, where university officials say the business school has outgrown its current facility.

"This is going to give potential students one more reason as to why they should choose public education and why they should choose UMass Lowell," said state Rep. Tom Golden, D-Lowell, a graduate of the university's business school and MBA program. "The governor is investing in the future not just of UMass, but the entire commonwealth."

The Pulichino Tong Business Building, named for UMass Lowell alumnus John Pulichino and his wife, Joy Tong, will house the Robert J. Manning School of Business, renamed in 2011 in honor of the chairman and CEO of MFS Investment Management, also a university alumnus.

A $6 million donation from Manning and $4 million from Pulichino and Tong will also go toward the construction, providing the rest of the necessary funds. Officials hope to begin construction next year.

The business building will be the third new UMass Lowell structure in five years.

University Chancellor Marty Meehan said that before this, no new building has been constructed in 33 years.

"I think the governor recognizes the fact that many of our campuses need an investment," Meehan said. "If we're going to grow research and create new companies and have a highly educated workforce, then we need new buildings."

The university's $80 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center, which officially opens Oct. 11, received $35 million in state funds.

The new building will be located next to the innovation center and engineering and science buildings so that business students can take advantage of these facilities, Meehan said.

Patrick's full 2013 capital plan is set to be unveiled next week.

Other projects announced on Tuesday include an $85 million physical-science building at UMass Amherst and a $100 million classroom building at UMass Boston.

Patrick also awarded $2.5 million in performance incentive grants Tuesday to the state's public universities and colleges.

Of this funding, $249,930 will go to UMass Lowell for the development of its co-op work program.

University spokeswoman Christine Gillette said the school has offered experiential learning opportunities for a few years, first in plastics engineering but later branching out to include positions at technology startups, accounting firms and other companies.